ratings agencies

The latest news in bailouts involves GE Capital. Apparently, the company has gone begging to the FDIC for a bailout. In fact, the FDIC has offered to back $139 billion in GE Capital debt. I have serious reservations about this move by…

In yet another move by ratings agencies likely to roil markets, HBOS has been cut by S&P. Given the fact that HBOS is the biggest loser to date in the European banking sector in the wake of Lehman's collapse. This cannot be seen as…

The world of financial services in not looking terribly stable in the wake of the Frannie nationalization. In fact, things are as jumbled as they have ever been. The latest news has AIG down 30% and both WaMu and Lehman brothers on the…

Remember how the impartial accountancies lost their way during the tech bubble? The most egregious case was Arthur Andersen's wrongdoings at Enron, which eventually bankrupted both Enron and Arthur Anderson. Well in this particular crisis…

We bailed out Bear Stearns. We have effectively said we are bailing out Fannie and Freddie. Who's next? All of this is only going to increase U.S. Government debt. Is this where we're headed? Note the last part in red: From 2002:…

This is just a step en route to nationalization. We are seeing a spiral down that will mean the U.S. Government will eventually step in. These organizations will fail without government support and they are too big to fail.Fannie Mae and…

How many AAA companies do you know of that have seen 80% declines in their market value?Two that I can think of:Fannie Mae (FNM)and Freddie Mac (FRE)

from Bloomberg News: Ambac Financial Group Inc., the world's second-biggest bond insurer, stopped trading on the New York Stock Exchange in a ``subpenny halt'' after its share price fell as low as $1.04. Ambac declined 3 cents, or 2.5…

As the financial sector melts down, one wonders which institutions are the safest: smaller local banks, money center banks, super regionals, credit unions. Credit unions are certainly something to think about because they offer high rates…

You kind of saw this one coming.Bloomberg News article here